Mathamatical Board Game

ABSTRACT

A game is provided where players create expressions which are evaluated and scored based upon how close they are to the number twenty. Players remove five game tiles ( 16 ) from the game bag. The tiles are labeled 1-9 ( 18 ) or labeled with an operation ( 20 ) (time, minus, plus, over), the tiles ( 16 ) are approximately ⅘ in. squares and ¼ in. thick. The first player uses three or more game pieces ( 16 ) to form an expression. The second player then builds an expression using tiles he has and tiles ( 16 ) already on the board. Game play alternates between the two players for the duration of the game. Game-play ends when: all tiles have been played, either player runs out of tiles ( 16 ) or when neither player can play tiles. The player with the lowest score wins.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of PPA Ser. Nr. 61/548,552, filed onOct. 18, 2011 by Ishmael and Pauline King, which is incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND—PRIOR ARTS

The following is a tabulation of some prior arts that presently appearsrelevant:

U.S. Pat. Nos.

Pat. No. Kind Code Issue Date Patentee 5,893,718 A Apr. 13, 1999O'Donnell 4,561,658 A Dec. 31, 1985 Peterson 5,707,239 A Jan. 13, 1998Butler

U.S. Patent Application Publications

Publication Nr. Kind Code Publ. Date Applicant 2011/0266746 A1 Nov. 3,2011 Kellond et al.

Many board games exist in the market place today. Many of these boardgame advertize themselves as competitive or educational but few canclaim both qualities.

Board games that advertise themselves as educational often lack thecompetitive qualities to hold the interest of players. These games areused as teaching tools and become obsolete as their consumers learn thematerials. Many educational board games require many complicated partsto appropriately teach the consumers. These parts make the gameovercomplicated and the parts can be easily lost. Competitive boardgames often lack educational qualities that can make for a morefulfilling gaming experience.

Many educational and mathematical board games have been proposed—forexample U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,239 (1998) to Butler, U.S. Pat. No.4,561,658 (1985) to Peterson, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,718 (1999) toO'Donnell all related to mathematics. Although these games adequatelyteach their consumers mathematics they lack competitiveness. U.S. Pat.No. 5,707,239 (1998) to Butler, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,658 (1985) toPeterson teach mathematics by providing cards of dice labeled with mathfunctions which when answered correctly allow a player to advance alonga set pathway. This style of game play may be effective in teachingsimple mathematics to a young audience but for an older audience thisinescapable repetition can become boring. These games also require anexcessive amount of parts.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,718 (1999) to O'Donnell adequately teachesmathematics and has some competitive aspects but its system of scoringdoes not actually require an understanding of basic math. Each tiles isassigned a point value and the actual answer to the expressions has nopart in determining the score.

2011/0266746 (2011) to Hasbro INC. is not math related but is an exampleof a competitive game that lacks educational qualities.

All board-games heretofore mentioned suffer from a number ofdisadvantages:

-   -   (a) Educational board games often lack competitive qualities    -   (b) Competitive board games often lack educational qualities    -   (c) Few Board Games have both competitive and educational        qualities

In accordance with one embodiment, a board game that is composed of agrid-like board, playing tiles, tile holders, and a tile bag (not partof patent).

SUMMARY

In accordance with one embodiment a mathematical board game apparatuscomprising of a matrix-like board, tiles holders, labeled tiles, and abag (not part of the patent).

ADVANTAGES

Several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows: provides asimple mathematical board game with both educational and competitivequalities; can be played by persons of different ages while remainingcompetitive; does not require excessive parts; game-play does slow downexcessively towards the end of the game; and requires real-timecost-benefit decisions. Other advantages will be apparent from aconsideration of the drawings and ensuing descriptions.

DRAWINGS—FIGURES

In the drawings (closely related figures have the same number butdifferent alphabetical suffixes):

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a game board opened for play from the playingsurface at two perspectives in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a tile holder, which holds the tiles during game play.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show examples of tiled labels with numbers (1-9) orprinted with operations (minus, plus, over, times) for use in thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 shows the game board of FIGS. 1A and 1B the tile holder of FIG. 2and the tiles of FIGS. 3A and 3B in the context of game-play.

FIG. 5 shows a sample game scenario of an opening expression beingplayed.

FIG. 6 shows the customized scorecard for use during play.

Drawings - Reference numbers 10 Matrix style board 12 Starting spaces(identifies by a symbol or other embodiment) 14 Tile rack 16 Game tile18 Printed number 20 Printed Operation 26 Game score card

DETAILED DESCRIPTION—FIGS. 1A, 2, 3A, AND 3B

Referring now to FIGS. 1A, 2, 3A, and 3B. The board 10, tiles 16, andtiles rack 14 are shown. These parts are the most essential to gameplay. The board 10 presented is a matrix-like board marked with symbols(or other embodiment) to indicate starting spaces 12; it holds the tileswhen they are in play. The tile rack 14 holds the tiles 16 when they arenot in play. The tiles 16 are use to determine score and are eithermarked with a number 18 of an operation 20. A bag is also included, itholds the tiles 16 for storage and allows players to choose tilesrandomly (not part of the patent).

OPERATION—ALL FIGS.

Referring now to the drawings at FIGS. 1A and 1B where the playing board10 is depicted from two perspectives. In FIGS. 1A and 1B the startingsquares 12, indicated with circles, may be marked with a wide array ofsymbols or shaded in someway. The playing board 10 has not folds, asshown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

FIG. 2 shows an example or a tile rack 14, two are provided to theplayers and used in game-play, and one tile rack holds five tiles 16.FIGS. 3A and 3B show an example of a tile 16 printed with a number 18and a tile printed with an operation 20. The tiles 16 are approximately⅘ in. squares and ¼ in. thick. Each tile 16 is printed on one side witheither a number 18 (1-9) or an operation 20 (plus, minus, times, orover). During game-play players use the provided tile racks 14 to holdand conceal their tiles 16 between turns.

FIG. 4 shows the game board 10 in comparison to a tile rack 14 and anumber of tiles 16. FIG. 5 shows the game board 10 after a sample firstturn of play. In FIG. 5, player one has used three of his or her tiles16 to create an expression starting on one of the starting squares 12.FIG. 6 shows the scorecard 26 for use during play and shows the timer asan optional part of the game. The game box will have the title, “King of20”, printed in some artistic manner. Although the rules, which followin the paragraphs below, tell how to play the game of the presentinvention, called ‘King of 20”, players are actually encouraged to makechanges to the rules to fit their own style of play or educationalobjectives.

Regulation play rules of “King of 20”:

Two players position themselves on opposite sides of the playing board10. Each player is provided with a tile rack 14 which can hold fivetiles 16. One player is provided with a scorecard 26 and keeps score forduration of the game. 74 tiles 16 are used to play the game (45 printedwith numbers 18 29 printed with operations 20). Tiles 16 are numbered1-9 or printed with an operation (minus, plus, over, times). Each playerthen picks one tile from the tile bag to see who goes first. The personwith the lowest number goes first. If one player picks an operation tile20 and the other player picks a number tiles 18, the player with thenumber tile 20 goes first. If the numbers are the same or if twooperations are picked, the players replace the tiles 16 and draw again.After determining which player will go first, both players draw fivetiles 16 and place them on their tile racks 14. The first player thendecides what expression can be made from of his or her tiles 16 andstarts the game by placing three or more of his or her tiles 16 to forman expression covering at least one of the starting squares 12. On eachplay, the player will try to use his or her tiles to form an expressionas close to twenty as possible. Tiles 16 can be placed vertically orhorizontally but not diagonally. A timer can be used to limit the amountof time allowed in each turn, but it is not a required part of the game.In each turn, at least one and at most five tiles 16 can be played.After the first player places his or her tiles 16, the second player'sexpression must include one or more of the tiles 16 already on theplaying board 10. The expressions used must comply with the followingrules: expressions are evaluated top-to-bottom and left-to-rightignoring the normal rules of math where multiplication and division havepriority; diagonal plays are not allowed; expressions never wrap to anadjacent row or column; double-digit numbers are ever allowed; any partof an expression involving division (the over tile) must evaluate to awhole number—plays using the “over” tile are not allowed if they do notresult in a whole number; and players can only form one expression at atime. The game ends when one player is out of tiles 16 or if neitherplayer can play any more tiles 16. At that point, each player must addten points to their score for each tile 16 remaining on their rack 14.The player with the lowest score wins.

ALTERNATIVE EMBODIMENTS

Alternate embodiments, including computer, multimedia, and performanceversions may be explored. Although I have described an embodimentaccording to the invention with considerable details in the foregoingspecification and illustrated it extensively in the drawings, it is tobe understood that I may make changes in the structure of the device solong as any changes made remain within the score of the appended claimsand any changed devices similar to mine made by others that fall withinmy claims scope, I shall consider such devices to be my invention.

Although the description above contains much specificity, these shouldnot be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merelyproviding illustrations of some of several embodiments. For example, thegame may have other shapes, colors, or layouts.

Thus the scope of the embodiments should be determined by the appendedclaims and their legal equivalents, not by the given examples.

ADVANTAGES

From the descriptions above, a number of advantages of some embodimentsof my mathematical board game become evident:

-   -   (a) The presented game provides competitive play for players at        various age levels while teaching simple mathematical        expression-building.    -   (b) The use of a scoring system in which expressions are        evaluated to determine a players score.    -   (c) Game play that does not require that the total of the made        expressions be shown on the playing surface.    -   (d) The game board allows multiple places to place expressions        which decreases game duration and reduces slow play at the end        of the game.    -   (e) Game requires real-time cost-benefit decisions

CONCLUSION

Accordingly, the reader can see that this mathematical board game in anyembodiment remains competitive for all players while teaching simplemathematical expression-building. In addition, the game's unique scoringsystem and game play also become apparent to the reader. Furthermorethis mathematical board game has additional advantages in that:

-   -   Consumers of all ages and skill levels can play this board game        competitively    -   The presented board game has obvious educational opportunities    -   The presented board game is intuitive, simple to setup and is        fast-paced    -   The presented board game has a limited amount of parts    -   Uses a scoring system that can be calculated quickly and easily        and has educational value.    -   Game play is not complicated and encourages strategizing and        risk-taking

Although the description above contains much specificity, these shouldnot be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merelyproviding illustrations of some of several embodiments. For example, thegame may have other shapes, colors, or layouts.

Thus the scope of the embodiments should be determined by the appendedclaims and their legal equivalents, not by the given examples.

I claim:
 1. A game comprising in combination, a square playing boardhaving a grid pattern consisting of playing position squares, numberedgame pieces, game pieces with mathematical functions printed upon them,whereby it is necessary for players to complete the left side ofmathematical equations.
 2. A game according to claim 1, wherein saidmathematical equations are calculated to arrive at a predefined value.3. A game according to claim 1, wherein said the difference between theresult value of mathematical calculations and a predefined value areadded to players respective scores.
 4. A game according to claim 1,wherein said the sum of the values calculated in claim 3 are totaled toarrive at a score.